


The Helpless Dark

by Bandity



Series: Voltron Whump Week [3]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Being Trapped, Blood Loss, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Langst, Major injuries, nightlight of the universe
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-17
Updated: 2017-08-17
Packaged: 2018-12-16 11:40:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,149
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11828001
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bandity/pseuds/Bandity
Summary: Lance is trapped and awaiting rescue, but he's not as alone as he thought he was.





	The Helpless Dark

**Author's Note:**

> For Day 3 of whump week. Prompt: Blood Loss
> 
> Please excuse mistakes. It's been a crazy week.

 

 

 

Lance awoke to darkness and pain. Instinctively, he put both of his arms out in front of him. However, only his left arm actually moved.

His right arm stayed very firmly beneath the rock it was currently under.

They had been fighting the Galra for the liberty of a planet and a battle had broken out right over a large city. The Piylens were a very collectivist people and they all lived together in huge communities. They were a tall people; with skin that was reddish and more reptilian in nature. They had bright, golden eyes that Lance had remarked on several times. The team had only known the Piylens for a few days, but they had already formed a strong bond with them.

Lance had been evacuating some civilians to an underground bunker. He was supposed to join the fight with Blue, but he just needed to be sure everyone was out. There had been a lot of families to move. He couldn’t risk leaving anyone behind.

He didn’t remember what had happened exactly, but he assumed the building he had been searching through was hit with a bomb blast.

Lance activated his full face shield and greedily gulped in oxygen. It was a relief, though it didn’t seem to be working as effectively as usual. His helmet was most likely broken and air was escaping through a crack somewhere.

His armor was still glowing faintly, giving his surroundings a blue tinge. Unfortunately, there wasn’t a lot to see. Rocks pressed in all around him. His left arm, chest and face were free, but his right arm just disappeared under the boulder that pressed into his shoulder. His legs were stuck and he couldn’t sit up at all to see what had happened there. All he knew was that he couldn’t move his lower half.

Lance feebly tried to push the rock off his shoulder. It didn’t budge. His bayard was… somewhere. Lost under the rubble. Fear of the apparent hopelessness of the situation crept into his mind. This wasn’t looking good. He couldn’t see how bad it was. What if his arm was completely crushed? What if it wasn’t even there?

With all of his might, Lance scrabbled at the rock, trying to lift it just a fraction of an inch. He reached back behind his shoulder as best he could. Maybe he could remove debris from underneath his arm and that would give him the space to move. His hand slipped, fingers sliding futilely over his armor.

Lance pulled his hand back. He saw the dark that now coated his fingertips.

Blood.

His fingers were slick with his own blood.

Lance felt like his oxygen supply stopped working all at once.

Lance turned his head, tried to see where the blood was coming from. He then realized that he could feel a dampness creeping along his shoulder blade, settling in the middle of his back. Blood was pooling inside his armor, draining out of him and soaking his skin.

Lance fought back a wave of nausea.

_Breathe. Breathe. Breathe._

The others would come for him. They knew where he was.

Right?

Lance recalled Shiro shouting at him to get to his Lion. Lance had agreed, but then he had turned and he saw fear and confusion amongst the people. So he ran in the opposite direction of Blue. Trying to make sure everyone had gotten out. He knew there was an area nearby where kids played, so he had run there. That must have been when everything had come down around him.

They didn’t know where he was.

“Shiro? You copy?” Lance’s voice shook. “Shiro? Hunk?” Lance swallowed down the sick feeling climbing up his throat. “Pidge? Keith?”

There was only static that answered him.

“Anyone hear me?” Lance choked out. Tears had formed in his eyes long ago and they now began slipping out of the corners of his eyes and into his hairline. _Stay calm. They will come for you. They won’t leave you_. Lance repeated the words to himself over and over. _Stay calm. Stay calm. Stay calm._

Lance’s mind wandered to his Lion. They would notice he was missing when Blue didn’t join the fight at least. They must have figured out something was wrong by now. Maybe Blue would come for him. She might accidentally crush him completely when she tried to free him, but at least he wouldn’t be alone.

Lance felt cold. Cold and sick and so tired now.

“Shiro?” Lance forced out. Hoping it would work this time. There was a buzzing and a click noise before the com went entirely quiet. Lance listened to the heavy silence. There was so much pain now that he wished he would just pass out again. Maybe he would. Just close his eyes and drift away… there… it didn’t hurt so much now.

A sound through the rubble caught his ears. He screwed up his face in confusion. What was that? It was faint and it sounded like garbled laughing.

“He-he-hello?” Lance stammered. The noise grew a little bit louder.

Crying.

Someone was crying close by.

Oh.

“H-hey, can you hear me?” Lance strained to speak as loudly as he could. He struggled to pull enough air into his lungs. “Hello? Someone there?”

The crying halted and the smallest voice sounded in the dark.

“I’m h-h-he-here.” There was a gasping breath and the crying continued.

That was a little kid. There was a little kid stuck under here with him somewhere.

“Okay. H-hey, it’s okay.” Lance fought hard to keep his voice even.

“Dark!” The child wailed.

“Oh, I know, but it’s okay. Just take a deep belly breath, alright?”

Lance paused and listened as the crying noises abated. He wished he could tell where the child was, he didn’t know where he should be pitching his voice.

“It’s going to be okay. My name is Lance. I’m a paladin of Voltron, what’s your name?”

“Rai.”

“Yeah? Okay. Rai, are you hurt? Can you move at all?”

“My foot is stuck!” Rai began crying on the last word and Lance winced at the sound.

“Hey, hey,” Lance felt so cold now. “Don’t cry. Look do you see any light around? Maybe some light from outside?”

There was a long pause where the crying tapered off again.

“There’s a little light.”

“Yeah? Can you reach it at all?”

“Maybe…” There was a pause and a scuffling noise. “Got my foot out.” The boy sounded pleased with himself. “Took my boot off.”

“That’s good,” Lance remarked absently. At least one of them could move. “Can you get to the light?”

Maybe the kid could get out and go for help.

“Yes.” There was the sound of rock shifting and suddenly the stones beside Lance moved and rolled from their precarious position. Startled, Lance gasped and stared as golden eyes peered at him through the dark. Oh, that’s where the kid was.

“You’re a light!” Rai exclaimed. Lance mentally swore and he forced himself to not look completely broken over this turn of events.

The boy inched forward until he could delicately move his fingers along Lance’s armor. The soft, blue light lit up the boy’s face. Besides a few scrapes, this kid didn’t appear to be hurt. Lance felt the last of his energy starting to drain, he hoped the boy wouldn’t see the blood.

“You glow up,” the child murmured, studying Lance’s armor closely. Lance grimaced at the way he phrased it. It sounded too much like ‘blow up.’ Which was also true. Lance had gone and gotten himself blown up.

Lance was starting to feel numb and their safe pocket between the rocks seemed to grow darker.

He didn’t want to die.

He didn’t want to die in front of this child.

He couldn’t really see, but he thought Rai was staring intently at his face. Waiting for Lance to do something useful.

“You’re stuck?” Rai whispered. Lance swallowed hard.

“Don’t worry. My friends will come to get us… Why don’t you talk about something?” Lance forced out. “You know any songs?”

“Yes.” Came the hesitant reply.

“Could you sing one? I’d like to hear it.”

After a moment of quiet, Rai set his head upon Lance’s chest and started humming something deep and low. Lance stopped himself from crying out over the added pressure. He wouldn’t scare this kid. He wasn’t going to do that.

As the humming continued in a different pitch, it occurred to Lance that these people didn’t have songs in the usual sense. It was more like throat singing. Still, it became oddly soothing as it reverberated through his chest and bones. Lance moved his arm so that it rested on the boy’s back. Maybe they could both find comfort in the gesture.

The humming went on and Lance was surprised when he realized he didn’t even feel the pressure anymore. He didn’t feel anything.

The pain faded away completely and then everything else did too.

* * *

 

At certain frequencies, sound can encourage healing. At least, that is what Coran told Lance when he finally woke up from a pod.

“How did you know the Piylens could do that? It’s not something they share with outsiders.” Coran was looking at him with a kind of awe. Lance was pretty sure he didn’t deserve that look.

Lance shook his head. “I was trying to keep him from being afraid.” He had just been trying to keep them both calm. “I didn’t know anything.”

Once again, Lance had made it through by pure dumb luck. They had taken vargas to find Lance, buried under all the rubble. Once they had his approximate location, digging him out had been slow and tedious. By the time they found him, he had lost a lot of blood and if it hadn’t been for Rai and his healing humming… well, nobody discussed that scenario. Lance’s arm had been broken badly and his legs had been in similar shape. His spine had been alright, but the rest of it sounded awful. He was actually glad he wasn’t conscious for that part, but he felt bad that Rai had to be awake for it all. It had probably been scary. Lance wanted to thank the kid, thank his family too, but by the time Lance was out of the pod, the castleship was already far from the Piylens’ planet.

“Are you alright, Lance?” Hunk asked him later. They had finished their evening meal and Hunk had found Lance stretched out on the floor of an observation deck, staring blankly out at the passing stars.

“Yeah,” Lance answered flatly.

"Hey, what’s wrong?” Hunk took a seat next to Lance on the floor and tried to appear calm, even though he had been so worried lately.

“Nothing. I just… I wish I could have been more useful. And I didn’t even get to say bye to that kid or thank him. I should have.”

Hunk studied his friend. Lance had been down ever since he got out of the pod. It wasn’t right. Especially since everyone was so relieved and happy that Lance was okay.

“You know, that kid Rai told everyone that you were really nice. He said you were a ‘good glow light.’”

Lance snorted.

“Lance, paladin of Voltron, nightlight of the universe.” Lance smiled, but it didn’t quite reach his eyes.

"Sounds pretty catchy to me.”

Lance shook his head and continued looking out the large window of the observation deck.

“You know,” Hunk started. “We only found that kid because you were with him.”

Lance turned to his friend with wide eyes.

“We were looking for _you_. Nobody knew that kid was there. So... if it wasn’t for you, he probably would not have been found for days. It would have been too late… The Piylens need light to survive. They can’t be in the dark for too long, it messes with their body temperature. So when he called you a good glow light, I think it was the best compliment he had.”

“I didn’t realize…”

“So don’t worry about not thanking him. You saved each other.”

Lance stared out the window in contemplation. He then shut his eyes and took a deep breath, feeling some of his tension and anxiety start to dissipate.

“Thanks, Hunk,” Lance muttered as he let his body slowly relax. He was still so tired, he could probably fall asleep right there on the floor.

“You’re welcome.”

Lance yawned and stretched his arms above his head. As he watched Lance drift off to sleep, Hunk was able to let go of his own worry as well. One of these days, maybe Lance would stop scaring them all like this. Soon, Lance let out a loud snore and Hunk smiled at how peaceful his friend now looked. It was good. Lance deserved to rest.

Nightlight of the universe, indeed.

**Author's Note:**

> I couldn't remember where I had gotten the title and it took me awhile to find it again. It's a quote by Franz Kafka: “I do not speak as I think, I do not think as I should, and so it all goes on in helpless darkness.”  
> I liked the way it sounded, but I was sleep deprived, so in my head, I kept calling this fic "The Hopeless Desk." 
> 
> Anyway, thank you for reading.


End file.
